Review of Connemara ferry

MS Connemara ferry is a Ro-Ro passenger vessel operated by the French company BRITTANY FERRIES. The ship has max capacity of 762 passengers and 195 cars plus 130 trucks (trailers). The vessel was launched in 2007 and currently operates on the Ireland-Spain and Ireland-France ferry routes Cork-Santander (crossing time 26,5 hours) and Cork-Roscoff (crossing time 14 hours).

Cabins

As cruiseferry, Connemara has 120 cabins with a total of 424 berths. All staterooms are air-conditioned and with en-suite bathrooms. The ferry company provides bed linens, towels and toiletries. The ship additionally has 36 reclining seats (available for pre-booking only on Cork-Roscoff crossings). One stateroom is wheelchair-accessible (adapted for passengers with disabilities).

All onboard emergency instructions are displayed in staterooms, on the TV screens and at the ship's assembly stations (aka muster stations). Life jackets are issued at the assembly stations. In case of emergency, the use of elevators / passenger lifts is forbidden.

BRITTANY FERRIES cruise deals

The company offers regularly scheduled ferry services between England and France (travel time on cruise ferries 3-4 hours) and between France and Spain (travel time 20-36 hours). The high-speed UK-France service allows the ships to successfully target the UK's "mini cruise" and holiday travel markets.

Connemara ferry wiki

The vessel is a passenger and freight ferry owned by STENA LINE and since 2018 chartered by BRITTANY FERRIES for operations in Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay. In the period 2007-2010 (as "Borja") the ship was chartered by BALEARIA. In 2010-2011 (as "Baltic Amber") it was chartered by DFDS SEAWAYS. In 2011-2016 (as "Norman Asturias") it was chartered by LD Lines, Inter Shipping and AVE Lines. In 2016-2018 (as "Asterion") it was chartered by ANEK Lines.

The vessel was ordered by Visemar Trasporti and chartered (while under construction) by STENA LINE under the name "Stena Ausonia". However, instead Stena re-chartered it to BALEARIA for the route Barcelona-Palma de Mallorca. Its inaugural cruise (maiden crossing) was on May 20, 2007.

In June 2010, under the AVE Lines charter, Baltic Amber was deployed on the Germany-Latvia route Travemunde-Riga.

In October 2010, it was chartered by DFDS Seaways for the Germany-Lithuania route Kiel-Klaipeda.

In June 2011, Norman Asturias was chartered by LD Lines for the France-Tunisia route Marseille-Tunis, but soon redeployed on the St Nazaire-Gijon route. In November 2013 was deployed on the UK-Spain route Poole-Santander. The weekly service UK-France (Poole-Gijon) was started in February 2014

On January 16, 2018, BRITTANY FERRIES chartered Norman Asturias for the new twice-weekly service Cork-Santander - the first-ever Ireland to Spain direct ferry link. Alternatively, the ship serves the Ireland-France route Cork-Roscoff.

Connemara ferry charter is for 2 years (2018-2020). Connemara's inaugural cruise (maiden crossing Santander-Cork) was on May 6, 2018. The maiden crossing Cork-Santander was on May 9.

Departures from Spain are at 12 noon. Departures from ireland are at 11 am.